Hundreds march for LGBT Pride in Coventry

Hundreds of people marched through Coventry on Saturday 18th in the city’s first Pride march. In a month when we the massacre in Orlando reminded us of reality of the violence that LGBT+ people face around the world, the march was loud and proud, with marchers chanting “we’re here, we’re queer, we will not live in fear!”

At Fargo Village we were the only political party campaigning, showing our solidarity with LGBT+ people and distributing leaflets and pamphlets against austerity. Pride events are often commercialised, with some LGBT+ organisations telling us to “celebrate” rather than fight for real equality and liberation – but in a world where we face hatred and discrimination every day for being who we are, we know we have a long way to go. To end LGBTphobia and hatred we need to fight for a socialist society.

Seattle Socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant wrote the below statement in response to Orland0 – we stand in solidarity with our LGBT+ brothers and sisters around the world.

This morning, we were all devastated to learn of the horrific terrorist attack on the LGBTQ community at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Our hearts go out to all grieving, most especially to the victims and their families.

This mass murder did not happen in a political and social vacuum. Indeed, we did not even have time to come to terms with this loss before news broke of another would-be mass killer in Los Angeles. Fortunately, his plans to attack L.A. Pride were discovered and stopped. But this kind of bigotry and violence will continue unless we fight it through unified mass movements.

We condemn this monstrous terror attack, allegedly by a man claiming allegiance to ISIS. We must absolutely stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ Sisters and Brothers.

We must also fight back against any scapegoating and Islamophobia.

We have to organize, mobilize, and stand up to violence, hate speech and the many forms of oppression forced down on LGBTQ people and minorities under capitalism.